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University High School boundaries tripled to include all the CBD, parts of Southbank and the Docklands from just North Melbourne, Carlton, Parkville and the northern end of the CBD. The Minister acts without any consultation with the Principal or School Council, no strategy or finances for facilities have been offered to service this huge expansion of the zone. It is reported that in 2017 there will be 200 students in year 7 alone based on the current zone, is this going to place yet another enormous stress on our school community?

RAiD sent a questionnaire to all of the City of Melbourne Candidates and will review and collate the responses to questionnaire to help understand the elected candidates and to plan and strategise for a better planned neighbourhood.

The 2016 City of Melbourne election for Lord Mayor and Councillors is by postal vote. Voting papers are to be mailed Tuesday 4th to Thursday 6th October. The ballot paper will identify the members of each candidate team; or refer to the Victorian Electoral Commission link at: https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/Elections/2016LocalCouncilElections.html

RAID@3051 Inc emailed the contact for each of the candidates in the City of Melbourne election with a request to respond by 30 September to four questions relating to:

provision of childcare and local government primary schools

provision of open space and sporting fields

strategies for maximising use of public transport and reducing traffic congestion

how they will engage in timely and meaningful consultation with the community and stakeholders.

To date about a dozen responses have been received form all the major contenders. RAID is a non–partisan organisation and does not endorse or comment on the responses received so at this point we wont be publishing the responses.

Down in paragraph three the Minister confirms a new school is planned for North Melbourne.

Four New Schools For Melbourne’s Inner City Families

11th Oct 2016

More than 5,000 new student places will be created for Melbourne families, with a further three new primary schools and a high school to be built in the inner city.

Minister for Education James Merlino and Member for Albert Park Martin Foley today released the Docklands School Provision Review and Stage 2 of the Andrews Labor Government’s Inner City Schools Package in response.

The Labor Government will build a new primary school at Docklands, with work to start immediately on acquiring the site. Planning will also start on a new primary and secondary school at Fishermans Bend and a new primary school at North Melbourne.

More than 90,000 students are forecast to enter Victorian schools over the next five years due to Victoria’s population boom and there is a growing demand for new schools in Melbourne’s inner city.

The Labor Government has already delivered a record $1.8 billion to build 42 new schools and upgrade hundreds more across the state to meet this enrolment demand. Under Stage 2 of the Inner city Schools Package announced today, the Government will also:

Build a new Docklands primary school with work to start immediately on acquiring a site

Identify sites and start planning for a new primary school at North Melbourne

Identify sites for both a primary and secondary school at Fishermans Bend

Secure a site to expand Albert Park College and provide five extra classrooms

Deliver the remaining funding for South Melbourne Park Primary School and Prahran High School

Open the new Richmond High School and Ferrars Street Primary School in 2018.

The Principal of Ferrars Street Primary School – the new vertical school at South Melbourne – will also be appointed 12 months before the school opens so local families can get enrolment support well in advance.

Inner city enrolment boundaries will also be changed so Docklands families will be able to send their children to Ferrars Street Primary School and University High School.

The Andrews Labor Government is building the Education State so every Victorian student has the opportunity for a great education and every community has access to a great school – no matter where they live.

The draft Arden Vision and Framework has been released (refer attachments) and the following consultation forums facilitated by are scheduled for community and business to have a say on what is being proposed

Business Forum 7.30am – 9am, Tuesday 4 October 2016 at North Melbourne Football Club.

For more information and to RSVP your attendance register at the link: Shape Victoria

2. Better Apartment Standards – draft standards (refer attached) have been released. RAID (and individual RAID members) have provided feedback on the standards with the key issues identified by RAID being: in principle support for the proposed Apartment standards and anxious that they do not get watered down due to pressure from the housing and development industries with the following amendments recommended:

1. developers should be bound by minimum sizes for units and flats unless they can demonstrate that the design meets the objectives of the standards in other ways.

2. propose that minimum room sizes should be established and suggest that 12 square meters for a bedroom is not an unreasonable minimum, with 40 square meters allowed for a single bedroom flat, and 55 square meters for a 2 bedroom flat as reasonable minimums. At minimum all rooms and all designs be fit for purpose.

3. RAID does not support the stipulation that only 60% of dwellings with a finished floor level less than 35 meters in height: in our view ALL dwellings should have good natural ventilation.

3: City of Melbourne Council Election: October 2016: RAID has forwarded a set of questions to all candidates focused on key issues to support positive community outcomes in the context of significant growth in housing stock in our community including:

provision of childcare and local government primary schools

provision of open space and sporting fields

strategies for maximising use of public transport and reducing traffic congestion

how they will engage in timely and meaningful consultation with the community and stakeholders.

Responses received by the requested date of 30/9 will be compiled and distributed to the RAID email list early next week.

Traffic management update: Traffic management is one of the major issues RAID has been raising with the City of Melbourne Officers and Councillors, in particular Cr Oke, in relation to the Woolworths site and the Haines/Shiel Street developments.

Residents have expressed concerns over the possible impact on residential amenity from the proposed North Melbourne Woolworths development site, both during its construction and following its completion. City of Melbourne has a number of measures either in place or planned to mitigate the impact.

The following traffic management measures are proposed in the vicinity of the Woolworths site:

traffic calming treatments in Shiel Street, subject to the support by the residents in the street

RAID@3051 AGM – was held on Wednesday, March 9th at the North Melbourne Recreation Centre Auditorium. The meeting was well supported by the RAID community. Dr Darragh O’Brien, Chair of the Inner Melbourne Planning Alliance (IMPA) – of which RAID is a member – was the guest speaker on the important topic of public participation on the planning and development that is changing 3051. Some key points, which generated discussion from the floor, included:

defining ’condensed’ v ‘spread out’ city

densification can result in ‘City Rd’ model – no active street frontage; little/no space between buildings

currently the community comes in at the ‘tail end’ as objectors

opportunistic developers work within the limitations of the planning policies without necessarily considering the infrastructure impact of the development

AMSP and C190 provide some positive directions eg. aspiration for a green neighbourhood feel for ‘city edge’ suburbs like North Melbourne and Kensington; however there are challenges with the legal instruments eg. mandatory heights and setbacks conflicting with the aspiration

what is needed is a ‘conversation’ as to what the community wants the city to be and guidelines for architects to work within when advising developers – for all parties there needs to be a degree of certainty

individuals and communities can make a difference.

2. Update on the Woolworths demolition

The demolition of the factory building on the Woolworths site commenced on January 4, 2016 and demolition has effectively been continuous six days a week aside from a week in late February when the site was closed down and a ‘stop work’ order posted. RAID remains unclear as to why the order was required despite seeking advice from City of Melbourne Officers. Ongoing demolition work continues today. A perimeter fence has been constructed in the past week as all of the factory buildings have been demolished.

RAID members are keeping a watching brief over the site and raising issues with CoM Officers and Councillors as they arise – or before they arise – as a pre-emptive measure in the case of traffic management around the site. RAID is aware that a development site of this size requires approval of a Construction Management Plan (CMP) which includes, among other matters, a detailed plan for traffic management at all stages of the demolition and construction phases.

Note that the permitted hours of work within the City of Melbourne are Monday to Friday from 7.00 am to 7.00 pm and Saturday from 8.00 am to 3.00 pm. Any work outside of these hours requires an out of hours permit to be issued. Workers are permitted to be on site prior to this time however must not undertake any building work. Any issues can be reported to the City of Melbourne on 9658 9658.

Finally, RAID continues to seek advice on the status of any new plans which may be submitted for the site; and on the VCAT prescribed conditions to the permit to be met. The lack of community consultation remains a major issue.

3. RAID presented at the Managing Residential Development Advisory Committee

RAID was represented at the Minister for Planning’s Managing Residential Development Advisory Committee Hearing on April 27th and the presentation focused on addressing the terms of reference as to a review of process including community consultation. In particular the emphasis put was on gaining an appreciation of, and respect for, the importance of community groups in informing planning policy and planning decisions; an exploration as to why community groups form in response to planning matters; the need to consult using effective strategies so that the community voice is heard; the need for plain English explanations and unpacking the complex planning language and processes when the majority of community group members are not planning experts.

The presentation also noted examples of what RAID considers to be the inconsistent application of the Residential Zone criteria in North Melbourne by the City of Melbourne and compared this to how other inner city municipalities had identified and designated significantly higher percentages of the more protected Neighbourhood Residential Zones within their areas. In closing a series of review requests were posed for consideration by the Panel members. The outcomes from the Advisory Committee deliberations will be reported to the Minister for Planning.

4. Renewal of RAID membership

Thank you to RAID members who have are renewed their membership for 2016 or are joining for the first time. The March AGM endorsed maintaining the joining fee at $1.00 and the membership renewal fee at $1.00. For renewing or new members please refer to the attached membership / membership renewal forms. Please download, complete and include the membership fee and send to PO Box 2007, Hotham Hill, 3051 or leave in the letter box at 42 Canning Street, North Melbourne.

Objections to TP-2014-955 (104-110 Haines Street) by next Tuesday 23 Dec. This is a NEW DEVELOPMENT this is not MICROWAVE MAN its additional !!!

In the process of reviewing this latest application we have realised that we are now up to 277 apartments and approximately 217 car spaces with these developments in Haines and Shiel Street. (note: this figure includes the Woods Car repairs in Shiel Street as they have lodged an application for 69 apartments with 4 storeys in the front and 8 in the back).

This is totally ridiculous for this area and we need to make people aware of this situation.

277 apartments and approximately 217 car spaces in this very small area of Haines and Shiel Street.

Dear RAiDers friends & concerned residents, we have had a number of requests for help in formatting an objection to the latest development opposite Gardiners Reserve,this one is at 114-116 Haines Street. So below is the standard text you can copy and paste into your own words.

The site owners have worked hard to fit to the current rules which you may or may not agree with but there are a number of issues with the current plan around things such as the easement, the light, balconies, car lifts, car parking etc. Many thank to the Save Gardiners Park campaign for their in put.

Objections close 5pm this Friday 21st November.

114-116 Haines Street proposed development , needs work on a few fronts

Melbourne City Council

Attention – Ms Josephine Lee

Planning and Building Department

Level 3, Council House 2

240 Little Collins Street

Melbourne 3000

Email: planning@melbourne.vic.gov.au

Dear Ms Lee

Re: TP-2014-419, 114-116 Haines Street, North Melbourne

We recognise that development is required in inner city precincts such as North Melbourne. However we would encourage the City of Melbourne to ensure that all new develops are appropriately scaled for the area in which it is proposed and that developments are matched with social infrastructure that addresses the needs of the community. On this basis, we would like to object to the proposed development at 114-116 Haines Street, North Melbourne as we do not believe that it is sympathetic with the surrounding area, and rather than enhancing the neighbouring environment, it puts further pressures on existing infrastructure.

While we note that this proposed development may potentially adhere to the Arden-Macaulay Structure Plan, the sheared scale is completely out of context for the local area. As such we would like to objection on the following basis:

Given height of the structure there is a risk of overshadowing onto Gardiner Reserve, and there is clearly overshadowing on the adjoining roof top gardens at 118 Haines Street. All developments are required to look at overshadowing at the Equinox on 22 September at the times of 9am, 12 noon and 3pm. The overshadowing diagrams provided in the developers report for this property fail to show overshadowing at 3pm, and it is for this reason that we believe there will be overshadowing implications on Gardiner Reserve and neighbouring properties. There also seems to be an error with the existing overshadowing drawings as the drawings do not accurately reflect the orientation of the structures or the direction of north, which is providing an inaccurate representation of overshadowing on the properties.

Gardiner Reserve is the only playground in North Melbourne with BBQ and play equipment. This is no doubt the busiest playground in North Melbourne – enjoyed by both adults and children alike through winter and summer. Any overshadowing of this open space will have a dramatic impact on the ability for our community to enjoy this much loved open space and will also deny our right to natural sunlight.

There are only 23 car parks to accommodate the 31 buildings. This is does not provide adequate parking for those living in the property. It will also put additional pressure on the existing on street parking. There is currently a lack of car parking in Haines Street, which is already used by people (mainly construction workers) parking all day while they work in the city or on construction sites in North Melbourne or Parkville. This pressure on existing on street parking will only be increased by this development based on the proposed car spaces and other high density properties proposed at 110-112 Haines and 1 Shiel Street and 3-5 Shiel Street, which do not have enough car spaces to service each apartment. Based on the type of accommodation proposed at 114-116 Haines Street, the residents are likely to be young professionals who are renting and could be expected to own at least one, if not two, cars per apartment. We would ask that the Council issue instructions to the developer to provide at least one car space per unit, and two car spaces for the three bedroom unit, creating a total of 32 car parks. This will ease the pressure for on street parking.

No onsite car parking has been allocated for visitors at this development. This further strengthens the point made above re putting additional pressure on local streets for on-street parking. Provision should be made for on-site visitor parking.

The sheer volume of vehicles associated with this development, and neighbouring developments at 1 Shiel Street, 3-5 Shiel Street and 110-112 Haines Street, will amplify the safety hazard at the roundabout at Haines / Shiel / Dryburgh Streets. Residents in the area currently risk being hit by motorists every time they attempt to use the pedestrian crossings at this intersection. Numerous accidents and near misses have occurred due to the line of sight issues created by the position of the crossing on Shiel Street and because as motorists speed up through the intersection to avoid stopping for pedestrians or simply ignore the fact it is a pedestrian crossing. Changes need to be made immediately to avoid any further accidents prior to the commencement of any construction works in the Haines / Shiel Street area, and to ensure motorists and pedestrians alike are kept safe in the long-term when all of the proposed developments have been completed.

There are safety issues associated with the current configuration of vehicle access to the car park from the lane way. Based on the proposed configuration, vehicles would have to reverse down the lane should they encounter a vehicle coming in the other direction from the carpark. This presents a range of safety issues, both for residents at 114-116 Haines, but also those at 118 Haines and the ‘Taxi’ building. There is also lack of clarity around who owns these lane ways and if they are in fact formal lane ways. There seems to be an assumption that there is a formal lane way in 110-112 Haines Street that will be accessible to 114 – 116 Haines, but if this is not the case, there will be significant traffic issues.

The apartments are poorly serviced in terms of natural accessible light, with many of the rooms relying on secondary light from translucent panels and voids to service rooms. The balconies are also considerably small and do not provide enough space for a small table with two chairs, a clothes horse and a conditioning unit. This also raises the question that if there was a formal public laneway, that there would be windows put in the building to services these apartments, further highlighting the above issue that there may not actually be a public laneway available to service the proposed car park and access points.

There also seems to be an inaccurate representation in the developers report of the public transport that currently services (or doesn’t service) the area. The developer has stated that there is adequate public transport to the site with the Arden Street train station located nearby. This station does not even exist and is not likely to exist anytime soon. North Melbourne residents are currently provided poor public transport options with the 57 Tram being the closest option.

Given the impact on Gardiner Reserve, would encourage the Melbourne City Council to consider increasing the size of the Reserve by pushing it into Dryburgh Street. The widening of the park would increase the available open space in this area as well as creating a section of park that is less likely to be overshadowed by this development and those neighbouring. Such as development could be incorporated with the reconfiguration of the Shiel /Haines / Dryburgh Street roundabout, which would have the benefit of making the area safer for the community, while also increasing the open space footprint and creating new places for the community to meet.

INSERT ANY OTHER PERSONAL CONCERNS

Developments on major arterials, such as Curzon Street, Dryburgh Street, Arden Street, King Street and Abbotsford Street are only subjected to 4 storey developments which are more in keeping with the aesthetics of the area. Why is it that a quiet residential area that is heavily populated with young children, families and elderly people is being subjected to significant developments 10 storeys and above? We do not oppose development, but ask that it be in keeping with the local environment while also ensuring our open spaces and public infrastructure are not compromised as a result. Please consider the impacts and reject this application in its current form.

The owners of the Microwave Man in Haines Street (opposite Gardiner Reserve) have put in an application for a 10 storey complex with 31 apartments and 23 car spaces.

Please object to this development which will overshadow the park. Objections close 21 November (as per the attached picture).

Planning application number TP 2014-419

Let your local election candidates know we are VERY un happy about the planning process and absence of vision at State Level. We broadly accept medium density and development, but it must be infrastructure and services driven, 23 car spaces, who misses out and what is to stop them parking on street?